Feedback Discussion • Differentiation Tags Usability and Workflows

As you use Differentiation Tags, please use this space to share your feedback/comments around the usability of the features and workflows.

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James-Kocher

Thoughts so far 🙂

First use case I thought of was using tags for students with accommodations. Would make it easier to add additional assign to entries for those who need extended time. I've seen teachers in the past create sections with DRC or something similar in the name, and that's a FERPA violation, especially if other students can see section names.
It would be nice to see tags listed on the individual student page when you click on their name in People
It would also be nice to be able to see/filter tags in gradebook
When looking at assignment pages with multiple due dates that use tags, it shows as assigned to "1 group". Maybe change the name to differentiate (see what I did there!) groups from tags.

rake_9

This feature seems to have (or be on track to have) what I would expect. Yay!

The feature is very obvious in the People page. The workflow for creating a tag and adding someone is reasonably easy to figure out. We did stumble a bit over the difference between tag groups and single tags, but the two use-cases are good and it isn't hard to understand once you know what is going on.

I see one activity that takes several clicks when I think one click would do. If I select a bunch of students and then click the Tag As button, I have the option to create a new tag. My assumption is that if I create a new tag when I have students selected, those students would be assigned to that new tag. That is not currently how it works. It is good that those students remain selected so I can click the Tag As button again and then choose my new tag. But it would feel more graceful to not have to do this in two steps.

I have not yet tested how well it works with controlling access, but I can see that it is an option in the availability window interface.

There is a way to see which tags a student is associated with, so that is good. I'm fine with clicking the tag icon. I'd expect this detail to also be on the People and Grades flyout and the student's course profile page. FWIW, I also expect to see Group memberships in those places too, so this is a long-standing hiccup.

I see there is already a feature request to have a way to see all the students associate with a tag. This is a feature that probably needs to be there before I enable broadly for my institution.

The feature request to separate Tags from Groups in the Gradebook filters would also be an important deployment feature for us, but we could live with the current situation short-term.

I'm not yet seeing a way to bulk-remove people from tags, other than deleting the tag altogether and starting over.

audra_agnelly

It was very easy and intuitive to tag students from the People screen. I created an A Group and B Group in one Set but after tagging my students it's was difficult to find who had been given each tag, in a large enrollment course or a course with co-teachers this needs to be easier to see. Not sure about the practicality of implementing any of these in the code but some ways this could be resolved for instructors:

the tag icon could be a hover-over that shows the Groups the student is in
the People screen includes an additional column visible to teachers and admin users that lists all the groups a student is in
The Manage tags panel shows the group and number of students. Perhaps the group pill could expand so the user can see all the students in the group
add a filter on the People screen so the teacher can see all students with a selected tag

I'd also like to see a filter on the People screen to find students without any tags. Enrollments change over the course of the school year and this would help teachers to more quickly find students who aren't tagged but should be.

And, last thought (for now) will there be a way for teachers to export a csv that lists students and their assigned groups? Maybe functionality incorporated into the Gradebook export.

tle1

I finally was able to get access this morning.

The first thoughts I have:

- I know these have been referred to also as "hidden tags" which implies there is no way for a student to know what tag they have associated with them. I would suggest that perhaps student visibility could be optional -- either to just that student with the tag, students with the same tags, or all students. Otherwise I feel like we could be in the same position we are now with groups and subsections, you have to duplicate setup for both to get the functionality and visibility you need. Right now we match subsections and group names because they share no functionality across the site, so there's no risk of accidentally assigning something to a group instead of a subsection. -- The only thing you can assign to a group is a group assignment that is pointed to the groupset that group is a part of.

For situations like accommodations, it would be useful for a student who is given an accommodation tag, or who expects to have one, to be able to verify that themselves to catch errors before an actual quiz or assignment happens. In this case we would likely want to set the tag to be visible to just that student with that tag, (not students with the same tag or all students)

- The bulk management has already been discussed, (something similar to the group csv upload and possibly adding an easier way to bulk remove)

- The other thing that was discussed is the visibility.

The no tag visibility image attached shows two places it would be nice to have tags displayed. The student popup window in the users tag (would be nice to see sections here too) and in speedgrader. Also there is no way to filter by tags in speedgrader?

I wasn't able to attend the office hours a couple weeks ago but the visibility in the user/people page was discussed a bit. Someone had mentioned putting a number next to the tag indicator. I think there was some discussion why a mouseover hover of the tag icon showing tags wasn't a good option - accessibility?) What if you could assign each tag its own icon that could be displayed instead of a single icon denoting one or multiple tags. Or if we only had room for one more two tag names, let the course rank the courses' tags in a priority list and simply show the first one or two, and then a + sign to expand. Simply putting each tag on a new line wouldn't be an awful idea either, that's how multiple sections are already displayed.

- tags for non-students. Are we able to assign tags to non-students so we can limit visibility of students for an instructor the same way we can for sections? (allow this user to only see students in their section)

venitk

@SamGarza1 here are my initial reactions:

it would be really helpful to see the names of the tags in the People tab. Either similar to how Gmail display labels, or at least with a tool tip when rolling over the tag (in addition to clicking on it).
The process of setting up a tag set is not intuitive for me.
- I'm in People, and I click Tag As. The dropdown for Tag Set says "Add as a single tag." I don't see an option to create a tag set until I click Add another tag. Then the words under Tag Set change to Create a New Tag Set, and the option for "add as a single tag" is gone. Since in both these states, there really is no option yet for Tag Set, that shouldn't be a dropdown field until there's an option.
- If you want to keep the dropdown field, then in the initial state, make Create a new Tag Set as an option at the outset, and changing that reveals the multiple Tag Name fields.
- I would also suggest moving Tag Set to the top of that box, similar to how you have to create the Group Set before you make a Tag Set. I understand not every tag will be part of a set.
Having said that, I'm wondering why it's not just set up more like Gmail labels. Unlike group sets, where a student can only be in one group per group set, a student could have more than one tag from a tag set. It doesn't function like groups in assignments, either. If I want students in a tag set to be assigned to something, I need to select all the individual tags, not the tag set. In other words, the tag sets just seem like organizational folders more than functional objects in the course. When I say "set up like Gmail labels," I mean you create a label and then you can nest it under another label, or you can just have a standalone label. To me, that's what feels like what's happening here, but by calling it a Tag "set", it's making me think of Group Sets, which function quite differently. I wonder if calling them tags, with the option of nesting tags under other tags (not tag sets). would reduce confusion because they don't function like group sets.
After tagging some students, I deleted that tag set. The tag icon next to the student's name persisted until I clicked on the tag, then it cleared. This is not what I would have expected; I would have expected the tag icon to disappear immediately when the tag set was deleted.
I really like that I seem to be able to use the tag set to assign an external LTI assignment. I'm testing it in beta, so I can't test to make sure that this is the case (we aren't allowed to mascarade as students in my institution), but that's what it seems like, and that's really really helpful.
I think I like that a discussion can't be assigned to a group and a tag? I'd have to play around with that to think that through. But, going back to my note about about the potential to confuse tags with groups, when you assign a discussion to a tag, then try to make the discussion a group discussion, the note that comes up says "You must remove any groups from the Assign Access section to change this setting." I would suggest changing that wording, because, again, no groups HAVE been assigned in the Assign Access section--I assigned a tag, which is not a group.
- It's worth noting that this warning functions inconsistently. If I have a tag in the Assign To field, I can't then check the This is a Group Discussion box. If I have an individual student in the Assign To field, I can, and doing so removes the Assign To field. I think you should figure out which way you want that to function and have it be consistent.
I'm curious how tags work when grading assignments, but I can't test that. I would think speedgrader would function the same as if I had assigned the assignment to those students individually; in other words, they would each turn in a different assignment and I would give them a separate grade (so, not like groups). If this is the case, that's another reason I'd suggest doing what you can to avoid conflation with groups.

By the way, this isn't about tags, but you have a bug with the Assign To field. I was in Edit Assignment and I assigned the discussion to an individual person and clicked save. Then I edited the discussion again and removed that person and changed it to a group assignment, clicked save. Then I clicked on the Assign To button on the right side of the discussion interface (the interface that would allow me to interact with the discussion) and it still said it was assigned to that student, even though I had deleted that (and when I went into edit the discussion, it was assigned to a group). So now I'm not entirely sure whether the discussion is assigned to a group or to that student. If you have an email address you'd like me to send this to (that's not support--they rarely seem to believe me when I find a bug), I'd be happy to send a video and a link to the course, if it's still not working at that point.

venitk

It would also be nice if Designers could also access tags, not just instructors. We set up courses, and often that would mean setting up things like this.

martinlarsson

I've come across the following needs so far:

Add a column on the People page that display all tags for each student, just as the sections column do. (Having to click or hover is just annoying).
Display all tags for the current student in SpeedGrader and on the student context card in the gradebook.
Display all tags for each student when assigning students to groups.
Enable using tags when automatically creating groups, for example "Require group members to have the same tags" or the opposite where they must not have the same tags.
Enable using tags when creating appointment groups in the calendar. Just as an appointment group can be published to one or more sections, it would be useful to assign it to one or more tags.
Enable filtering on tags in SpeedGrader for group assignments. (Or allow for applying tags to groups)

The main use cases that I see at this point is not accommodations but rather:

Reducing the workload for teachers/supervisors in large courses.
By making it easier to keep track of their assigned students. And narrow the information down to what is relevant to them.
Be able to store information on in which programme the student is taking the current course.
So a teacher can be able to create groups more efficiently.

jorgen_ivarsson

Hi @SamGarza1 ! Here is some feedback on the new feature Differentiation Tags.
First off, it is a much appreciated feature! The very limited scope of what a group is in Canvas can finally be resolved with this new feature. While this new feature is beneficial, there are some areas that need improvement. Here is our first short response on Differentiation Tags (Tags).

Positive Aspects
Administrative Functionality: Tags are purely administrative, visible only to teachers and administrators. Neither the tagged members nor other participants can see who is tagged.
Integration: Tags are supported in "Assign To" within Assignments, Modules, Discussions, Quizzes, and Messages. They can also be filtered in Grades.

Areas for Improvement
Visibility and Consistency: Tags are not yet available in Announcements, group assignments, or New Analytics. Additionally, differentiation tags are listed separately from groups in Messages but are found under groups in Grades filters. Tags should be listed separately in all instances where tags are supported – for consistency.

Student List Visibility: It is good that a student’s tag is visible in the participant list. However, it would be more efficient if tag affiliation could be seen via a pop-up/mouse-over rather than having to click on the symbol.
Color Coding: An additional suggestion is to allow color coding for tags during creation, optionally.

Problems
Removing Tags: While adding one or more students to a tag is easy, there is no way to easily remove a student from a specific tag. This is a significant issue as it must be possible to "un-tag" a student. Yes, you can remove or add a tag from a specific student, but not the other way around – remove students from a specific tag. I think we need a tags page, very similar to the groups page. CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations should be fully supported (see below).

Tag Variants: It is not possible to remove or rename a variant (tag) in a tag set. Adding a "variant" to a simple tag creates a tag set with two variants: the created variant and another with the same name as the simple tag, which cannot be removed.
Additionally, students cannot be moved between tags or duplicate a tag.
Also, the term "variant" is problematic. Language is important, and you are confusing users with the term "variant." It is not a variant; it is always a tag. Sometimes alone and sometimes in a tag set - a collection of tags. Using the term "variant" is only confusing (at least for us that don’t have English as a first language).

Technical Issue: Selecting two non-adjacent students results in all intermediate students being selected (This issue was resolved after reloading the page – maybe a problem with JavaScript?).

Requests
API Integration: The ability to create tags and add/remove students via API and SIS integrations.

Roles and Permissions regarding Tags
Teacher: Can create/edit tags.
Course Administrator: Can create/edit tags.
Co-Teacher: Cannot see or create/edit tags.
Designer: Cannot see or create/edit tags.

Suggested Improvement for Roles: Roles should be able to control more than just Add, Delete, and Manage. They need the right to Read. For example, if there is a tag named "Suspended" for an inactive student in the course, a co-teacher should be able to read the tag, even if the co-teacher cannot edit the tag.

susanna_bjorver

Jörgen, all your comments are spot on, and much appreciated!

I would like ta add another inconsistency problem. When looking at the account information for a student that has an associated tag, the tag is shown under the Groups the student belong to, which is slightly confusing...

And what is an outright bug, is that this "group" like all other groups has its name as a clickable link that is supposed to go to the group area of the group.. but tag groups do not have such an area so following the link yields a page not found error.

md99

Hi,

I've been reviewing the Differentiation Tags in the June 21, 2025 release notes and noticed that they seem to be limited to individual courses. For instance, if I wanted to tag a student for something like "Hasn't completed the Academic Integrity Module", I'd need to apply that tag in every course they're in. That's a fair bit of extra work. Is this assumption correct in how the tags currently work?

I realise that the Differentiation Tags are perhaps designed for personalised support within a single course, like tailoring assignments or feedback for specific students. I think my idea here is to stretch beyond their original purpose and in my mind it's an idea worth exploring! If it's currently just "local" only to individual courses, what if we had "global" tags that stick with a student across all their courses, so you only tag them once? Or even "group" tags for specific sets of courses or cohorts?

Here are a few ways that I think this could be useful:
- Mandatory training - as mentioned earlier, tag students who haven't done required training like the Academic Integrity Module, with the tag showing in all their courses. This can help academics/instructors/admins/support staff spot who's not compliant easily. It can also trigger reminders or limit access to certain resources until training's done.
- Performance Tracking - tag students struggling with grades across multiple courses as "at-risk" to help advisors early.
- Engagement monitoring - tag students who aren't engaging much, like skipping discussions or quizzes across courses to coordinate support.
- Porgram/cohort tracking - tag students in programs like honours or international cohorts, the tag follows them acorss courses for easier progress tracking.
- Data driven tags - perhaps link tags to the New Course and User Analytics to automatically flag students based on grades or completion status, cutting down manual work.

Privacy is a key concern here for me. Students should be clearly told about any tags and why they're there. Many of the tags should be temporary, tied to support actions and only visible to relevant staff, like academics, advisors etc, to be in line with any privacy acts. It would be great to also have an opt-out option for non-mandatory tags.

To make this smoothly:
- a central hub for admins to manage global and group tags at the account level. This is in addition to the "local" tags as described in current documentation.
- controls so only certain roles can see/edit tags. This should be granular.
- a way for students to see relevant tags, understand their purpose and how long they last.
- good documentation

I realise that a lot of this is out-of-scope for what the current incarnation of what the Differentiation tags is used for, but I'd like to hear Instructure's thoughts on this. Keen to hear feedback from others as well.

S_Carter1

Question: would it be possible to have differentiation tags that persist across courses? Is there any plan to do this?

cpowell2

Hi @SamGarza1 - I can see how Differentiation Tags can be very helpful for teachers moving forward, especially with accommodations with assessments. However, I noticed an error occur in both my Canvas Beta and Production environment. The error seemed to occur when a student is in two sections in a course.

I made a quick screencast to share my findings, should there be any interest:

(view in My Videos)

An online link to this video can be found here: https://d.pr/v/iKQwii

My apologies in advance if this is a known issue, or I did not read information online pertaining to this error. The Instructure online community documentation is extensive. 🙂

Thanks for your time,

Chris Powell

Canvas Admin, Western Washington University

tle1

@SamGarza1

Is there a reason that the manage tag only shows four tags, even when there's more room to show additional tags?

It makes it confusing if you can't view all the tags available for management at once.

Manage Tags.PNG

If there are too many to display, I would prefer a scroll rather than a paginated view, so I have some control over which tags I can see at once. Sorting options (Date vs Name) could also give a bit more flexibility when displaying multiple tags in the manage tab.

LMacaulay

I just enabled the feature and can already tell that the limitation of 40 tags per course and 10 variants per set is going to cause issues. I want to use tags to tag students with the faculty member who is responsible for grading the student work so that they can filter the gradebook and easily see the students they need (and also for the admin staff monitoring if grading is being completed in a timely manner). But we have more than 40 faculty supporting this grading in a large enrollment course so an individual tag won't work AND we have more than 10 faculty per topic so even if we make a set for each topic, we need more than 10 variants...WHY were these random limits employed and can they be lifted???

leward

@SamGarza1 ,

I am a bit late to the party having just enabled Differentiation Tags in our test environment. I strongly agree with @venitk that the UI and workflow for tag sets is not very intuitive. If I haven't created any tags and I want to begin by creating a tag set, that is not an option. Instead I have to create a single tag (e.g. Assignment Groups). Then when I create my second tag (e.g., Group A), I select my "single tag" as the group name., resulting in a group with tags Assignment Group and Group A. This could be easily rectified by adding an an "Add as a group" option to the Tag Set dropdown in the Create Tag modal. By adding this option, any time you want to create something new, you get to decide whether you are creating a new standalone tag, a new group, or a new tag that is added to an existing group.

But I would argue that Canvas already has a really nice UI for doing something very similar--the +Group Set workflow. Others have already asked for the ability to distribute students across tags in a tag group, which makes total sense. But even if you don't support auto-distribution initially, it would save a lot of time, if, when creating a tag set, you could specify the number of tags in the set. Canvas could then create the variants automatically, using the set name as the prefix and adding a number after each variant. Teachers can always edit the set to change the variant names, just as they can with groups, but I suspect most would be content with the default names. Why not present teachers with a familiar workflow for a feature being pitched as similar to groups, but without dedicated collaboration spaces.

Chris_Hofer

Hi @SamGarza1 (or anyone else that might know)...

My team and I are struggling with what a Tag Set is compared to a single Tag Name. Is this similar to how Groups work where you have to first have a Group Set, and then you put Groups within the Group Set? For example:

Group Set name: Team Project
Groups within the Team Project: Blue Team, Green Team, Red Team, Yellow Team

Is this the same idea with Differentiation Tag Sets?

Also, what is a Variant? Can you give an example of this, too?

I looked through this Guide, but I couldn't find much on what these terms actually mean (unless I'm overlooking something). How do I create and manage Differentiation Tags as... - Instructure Community - 648065

Thanks!

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